Glasgow Wrestling Academy Blog

Approximately 17 percent of children and adolescents in the U.S. are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since the rate of obesity among young people continues to grow, it is critical for parents to keep their children fit and healthy throughout the year, and especially during summer break. Unfortunately, many of our schools have reduced the mandatory number of days that a student should have PE. Class. Just shy of 2o years ago, most school systems across the US required PE class and or recess everyday. However, today, those mandatory physical fitness days have been reduced from 5 days a week to 2 days a week. And when Summer Break arrives, many kids won’t get to go to gym class those two days a week and will need other ways to stay in shape. A fun and unique way to keep children fit is to sign them up for a year around wrestling program. And we have the perfect fit for you, Glasgow Wrestling Academy and Fitness, Inc. (GWA). GWA can definitely keep your child in peak shape. Here are three exercise benefits of our program:

IMPROVED HEART HEALTH

Although heart disease doesn’t affect a high number of children, it is a leading cause of death among adults. According to the Texas Heart Institute, controlling risk factors of heart disease, including high blood pressure and obesity, during childhood will decrease your kid’s chance of developing cardiovascular disease in adulthood. An effective way to reduce these risk factors is to exercise on a regular basis. Physical activity helps the heart pump blood through the body more efficiently, which keeps blood pressure under control, according to Group Health Cooperative. Wrestling is a great exercise for the heart because it forces it to work hard, improving its strength over time.

WEIGHT LOSS

If your child is overweight, wrestling in our program will help him or her trim down throughout the school year and over summer break. Because many of our exercises features several different movements and drills, your child can burn lots of calories. According to Harvard Medical School, one hour of wrestling can burn up to 600 calories. If you feed your child a healthy diet and have him or her participate in our wrestling training sessions a few times a week, he or she can lose weight and become healthier.

INCREASED STRENGTH

Wrestling will also increase your child’s muscle strength and improve musculoskeletal health, which will help him or her avoid injuries while engaging in physical activities. If your child improves his or her strength, he or she will also be less likely to experience aches and pains when he or she gets older.

When you enroll your child in our GWA program, he or she will receive adequate exercise regularly and may even make some new friends along the way. Wrestling may be a challenge at first, but your child will get the hang of the sport and enjoy it.

In addition, being a part of GWA is beneficial for a variety of reasons. Not only does your child learn self-defense tactics, but all of that physical activity is certainly a good workout. Plenty of kids enrolled in our program begin taking our classes for the physical benefits, and continue after learning how it positively impacts other aspects of their lives. Here are some of the other ways our class is good for your physical health:

Working on the core: Wrestling is a sport that works every single muscle group in the body. Many of the movements and positions take a lot of power from the core, and upper body. Wrestling is a popular variety that emphasizes these skills, making it a great core workout that can also tone your arms, back and shoulders. Much of the wrestling exercises and drills can also serve as a full aerobic workout.

Make wrestling your child’s cardio: When it comes to fitness, cardio is an aspect that you can’t leave out. Luckily, a wrestling practice, drilling routine, or a simple wrestling warm-up will really get your heart pumping. Plenty of our wrestling drills and exercise routines focus less on power and more on the movement itself. You’ll likely find that your child’s legs will feel strong after a few practices that consist of jumps, skips and other leg/footwork movements.Prepare your child: Just like you wouldn’t begin running on the treadmill without stretching first, you don’t want your child to start wrestling practice without preparing your body. Not only does stretching help your joints and muscles loosen up for the upcoming practice, but making sure you relax those muscles lowers your risk of strains. If your child still ends up straining a muscle during practice, take a few days off to rest and ice the injured muscle.

According to a dictionary definition, a leader is a person who leads or commands a group or an organization. Did you know that as early as children and teenagers, people acquire qualities of a leader? The past few years there is an emphasis on how effective this leadership role is on a student in a school environment. However, this valuable opportunity can extend farther than just the classroom. Students in leadership roles benefit just as equally in wrestling! Students involved in wrestling programs already have a major advantage in acquiring skills for life due to their wrestling training. But by being put into a leadership position they can bring their skill set to the next level.

Students can take on leadership roles that go far beyond helping their owner track attendance or manage prospects. We are sharing 3 ways in which wrestlers can grow by being put into leadership roles.

The Most Effective Way to Learn

Often, the best way to learn and fully understand something is to be able to able to teach it to someone else. This type of hands-on experience is what instills skills in a way nothing else can. Wrestlers are already learning so many things, but when an older and more advanced wrestler is able to demonstrate a move to the class or even be an assistant to their wrestling coach, he or she not only set an example for other students, but acquire many skills for themselves. This is a perfect example of leadership.

You are not able to directly teach leadership abilities, but rather the student must experience first-hand. By being a leader, students are able to experience a completely different kind of learning. By being in charge and holding responsibility, students learn how to manage groups, organize projects, solve problems, and be independent.

Building Confidence and Maturity

Being in charge of a group or project, a student learns how to rely on themselves and their own abilities, instead of someone else. This dramatically increases maturity and creates a healthy competitive nature which is vital in a strong leader. Leadership is a quality that is necessary in the real world when one finally enters the workforce. Students having this experience in leading others and being in charge, students are better prepared for real world work experiences in college and future jobs. Leadership experience is also effective in increasing student’s self confidence.

Confidence is truly the foundation of a leader. In order to successfully lead, one must believe in themselves and what they are capable of. When put into a leadership role, a student will quickly realize that in order to make others believe them and follow their lead, they must first believe in themselves. It is much easier to trust someone who exudes confidence in what they are saying and doing. By becoming a leader, a student will grow into this concept more and more.

Increases Communication Skills

Being in charge pushes a student to come out of their shell, talk to more people, and be comfortable being put upfront. Placement in a leadership role guides students in being open, honest, and easy to talk to. Leaders know how to get their message across to both peers and strangers, and are not afraid to negotiate, discuss, and find solutions with others. Communication skills are fundamental when it comes to work performance, so it is important to begin cultivating this skill from a young age.

The benefits of wrestling goes far beyond the skills members learn on the mat and the value gained far outweighs the cost of tuition. Membership payments are an investment in their future. Wrestlers are extremely helpful in preparing students for real world issues and bettering them in confidence, ability, and knowledge. By placing these students into leadership opportunities, they gain the ability to go even farther. Leadership roles in the wrestling can include a wide array of jobs and duties. From being an assistant to your wrestling coach to organizing a charity event through your program, the possibilities are endless. These responsibilities teach career-necessary skills, spur confidence and maturity, and increase communication skills. Being a leader is the ultimate way a student can grow and thrive in everything they do.

A Statistic from StopBullying.gov states, “that nearly 30% of students in 6th through 12th grades report being the victims of bullying. More than 70% of students in those same grades say they’ve seen bullying at their schools.”

AN IMBALANCE OF POWER:

Kids who bully use power to harm or control others. Power can come in the form of physical strength, access to embarrassing information.

REPETITION:

Bullying behavior happens more than once, or has the potential to repeat.

Bullying most often occurs in school, on the bus, and online through social media apps. The three main types of bullying are verbal, social and physical. Here are some examples of what the different types of bullying can look like:

VERBAL – SAYING OR WRITING MEAN THINGS

Teasing or taunting

Name-calling

Threatening harm

Sexual comments

SOCIAL OR RELATIONAL – DAMAGING ANOTHER’S REPUTATION OR RELATIONSHIPS

Spreading rumors

Intentionally embarrassing another student

Excluding someone on purpose

Telling other students not to be someone’s friend

PHYSICAL – HURTING SOMEONE OR DAMAGING THEIR BELONGINGS

Hitting, kicking, pinching, tripping or pushing

Taking someone’s things or breaking them

Mean gestures and spitting

WRESTLING TEACHES SELF-CONFIDENCE, SELF-CONTROL AND SELF-RESPECT

Therefore, learning how to wrestle may seem like an obvious way to ensure your kids don’t become victims of physical bullying. As a result, they receive the self-defense training they need to protect themselves and fight back.

In addition, wrestling also equips our kids with another important tool for preventing bullying: Confidence. Students develop healthy self-esteem when they learn to wrestle, which gives them confidence to stand up for themselves, without using force.

In summary, they learn self-control, how to be assertive, think on their feet when being picked on. When a student keeps their composure and doesn’t engage, a bully loses their power.

There’s one more characteristic wrestling teaches that’s important to stopping bullying: Respect. Students learn to respect others and themselves. This means they’re less likely to tolerate being bullied or to bully others.

GET INVOLVED

In summary, organizations like STOMPOutBullying.org are raising awareness of National Bullying Prevention Month by hosting events throughout October. Wrestling Clubs and instructors can get their wrestling program involved and help put an end to bullying.

Glasgow Wrestling Academy’s (GWA) five-year-old George Rodriguez, caps off a picture-perfect season going 34-0. He won the GA State Championship and ended the season as the 2019 AAU Youth Spring National Champion!